Flue control



R. M. POTTER March 15, 1932.

FLUE CONTROL Filed July 8, 1929 2 She etS -Sheet March 15, 1932. R. M.POTTER 1,849,114

FLUE CONTROL Filed July 8, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 019 6'0 5.9 6'7 a? 571/ r 55 u I]: I: .g. 69

51 IIII 11 6:7

@a/mtd y TOR I BY Patented Mar. 15, 1932 I nayMonn M. POTTER, ornoUeLAs," AnIzoNA 1 FLUE CONTROL Application med, m 3,1929 sea 376,831.a i

The "present 2 invention relates to the reg lationof fluids throughconduitslor pipes and more especiallyto the regulation of the draft I xin a multiplicity offiu'es of chimneys.

d n 7 a applicatlon and m'ore especially in. connection with'amultiplicity of fiues for boilers, furnaces, or industrial dev ces, inWhlCll smoke, gas, or fumes, etc., are emltted from 'said'fiues, andwherein it is desirable to control the draft at predetermined levels ineach of a multiplicity of fiues.

The invention is also; of value in the metallurgical arts in connectionwith the operation of'Cottrell treaters where it is necessary toshutdown each unit, from'time to time to remove the dust which has beencaught there- 1n. 4 1

Other uses'and purposes of the presentin- 6 vention will be obvious tothose skilled inthe art by reference tothe following description Ichains are each adapted to be lengthened or andthe drawings forming apart hereof.

The disclosure herewith is" to, be understoodas being a preferred formand alsoa's being illustrative of one form of the invention and;

therefore is notto be considered in the lim' iting sense,,since theinvention may be practiced'inother forms as will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art. r

" ignatelike parts.

, Fig. l is an elevational sectional View on ken away to illustratedetails of construc- Fig. 4 is a schematic eleva-tional view wherecertaln Views are dlagrammatlcally illustrated.

Referring nowto thedrawings and more *"especiallyto Figs. 3 and tinwhich are diagrammatically illustrated a plurality of flues 1,2, 3 and4,which are shown asbeing cylindrical, but any suitable form or shapemaybe used; Each of these fiues isprovided with a damper 6, 7 and 8,which-dampers are The invention has many places of use and.

Throughout the several figures of the drawings, like characters areutilized to des-- so shaped as to actlas valves for the.fiues,, and inthe present case are shown as being" substantially circular. 'The shafts9, 10, 11. and 12 upon which these dampers are fixedly mountedlc'arryoutside of'the flues bellcrank-- 55 levers 14,15, 16 and.17. One arm ofeach; of these levers is providedwith a-co'unterwe ght 18, 19, 2O and21.The other arm of each bellcrank is connected .bya chain 24,25,

26 and 27 or other'form of connection, to a post 28 on an arm 29 fixedlysecured-upon the shaft 30 of a worm wheel 31 suitably mounted ina'frame32, which provides bear.-

25, 26 and 27 between thebellcrank lever, 17 and'the post 28'are in thesame-horizontal .ingsfor the shaft 30. The four chainsi2, i

plane, as illustrated in Fig. andtherefore appear as-a single chain. Itis to be understood, however, that preferably there 'is anindividualchain between each bellcrank lever 14, 15,16 and 17'and the post 28. 1These shortenedbetween the post 28 and their reindividual damper may beadj-usted'relative to theother dampers as to the degree to which therespective lines are normally opened or closed by the said respectivedampers, in 0r-1 der that the adjustment of the draft through severalfiues maybe suitably balan'ced,'- as normal adjustment. i Q

, The worm. wheel '31 is opera-ted by a worm Mon a shaft 35 of areversible electric motor. f 36 so that when the electric motor isvdriven, the worm 34' turnsthe worm wheel 31l ,and

the shaft'30, thereby causing the arm 29 to move. If. this movement, asillustrated in Fig.4 is clockwise, the several dampers5,6, I 7 and 8through the.suitableconnectio ns are r operated to close the flues l, 2,3 and'4. If the motor drive operates to 'swing' tl1e arm 29counter-clockwise, then {the dampers through their connections and underthe infiuence of the counterweights'18,-19, 20 and i .21. operate toopen the draftthroughthesaid r The control of the electric motor isabout by the following devices. The flu'es are provided with draft pipes37, 38, 39 and g.-

40 of a type well known in the art, there being a draft pipe connectedwith each flue. These draft pipes at their outer open ends terminate instand pipes 41, 42, 44 and 45, which pass upwardly through the bottom ofa liquid container 46, and their upper open ends terminate above theliquid 47 in said container 46. Inverted cups or bells 48, 49, 50 and 51are suspended over the open ended stand pipes 41, 42, 44 and 45, withthe lower ends of these bells extending below the surface of the liquid47 in the liquid container 46 in such manner as to provide liquid sealedchambers around the open ends of the draft pipes. These inverted cups48, 49, 50 and 51 are suspended by chains 52, 54, 55 and 56 from a beam57 carried by arms 58 and 59 mounted upon a shaft 60 which is pivoted onthe bearings 61 and 62 carried by vertical uprights 64 and '65 suitablymounted upon a base plate 66. An arm 67 is fixedly secured to the shaft60 and extends in the opposite direction from the arms 58 and 59. Thisarm 67 preferably is screw threaded and carries an adjustablecounterweight 68. An electric contact arm 69 is carried by the arm 67and may be suitably insulated therefrom if so desired. This electriccontact arm 69 is mounted to oscillate between a pair of adjustablecontact points 70 and 71 that are mounted upon and insulated from acarriage 72 which is sli dably supported upon guide rods 74 and 75, thatare supported in frame blocks 76 and 77- The forward frame block 77carries an adj ustment screw 78 which is mounted to rotate in the frameblock 77 and is in screw threaded engagement with the carriage 72. Byoperating the adjustment screw 78, the carriage 72 may be moved to andfro on the'guide rods 74 and thereby changing the relation of the.adjustable contact points 70 and 71 to the contact end of the arm 69.These contact points are suitably electrically connected with thereversible electric motor 36 in such man nor that when the contact arm69 contacts with the contact point 70, an electrical currentflowsthrough these parts to the electric motor so as to cause the electricmotor to be driven in one direction, and when the contact arm contactswith the point 71, an electric current flowing through these connectionscauses the electric motor to be driven in the opposite direction. a I

The dampers are adjustably set in such manner as to normally provide thedesired draft through the several fiues by lengthening or shortening theindividual chains. If the draft increases in one or more of the saidflues. the pressure conditions beneath the inverted cups changes andthis causes the cups to move.

,This, through the connected parts, brings the contact arm 69 intoengagement with the contact point which will cause the electrical motorto operate and through the connected parts to gradually swing thedampers to cut down the draft through the fiues. This brings about agradual change in the pressure conditions under the cups and throughconnected parts causes the contact arm 69 to break the connection withthe contact point, thereby leaving the dampers set at such position asto provide normal draft under the changed conditions which tended tobring about the increased draft. If on: the other hand, the draft in oneor more of the fines decreases, again pressure conditions change in theopposite direction under the cups and through connected parts, thecontact arm 69 is brought into engagement with the other contact pointwhich causes a current to flow through the electric motor to operate thedamper controls in such manner as to gradually open the dampers, thustending to inreas thedraft through the flues, and thereby againgradually changing pressure conditions under the cups so that thecontact arm breaks the circuit and standsin neutral condition betweenthe contact points where the dampers are left until there is a furtherad justment required. V 7

F om the foregoing, it will be observed that the draft conditionsdetermined as normal may be set at the will of the operator and theseconditions will bem'aintained automatically until a resetting is made.By adjusting the lengths of the chains to the dampers normal relativeadjustment of the dampers is obtaineo; by adjusting the counterweight 68on the arm '67,the sensitivity of the device may be changed; and byadjusting the carriage 72, the predetermined draft through the severalflues may be increased or decreased at the will of the operartor. Fromthe foregoing, it will be observed that the present device is veryflexibl in its adjustments and operations and when once set,automatically maintain predetermined conditions.

Tclaim: i I j 1. A device for regulating the flow of fluids through aplurality of independent-conduits, comprising in combination a pluralityof conduits, valves within said conduits and being operable to restrictthe flow of fluids through said conduits, a common operating means forsaid valves, adjustable connections between said valves and said means,and automatic devices controlled by the flow of fluids through saidconduits to operate said operating means to maintain the flow of fluidsthrough said conduits withinpredetermined limits. j

2. A device for regulating the flow of fluids through a plurality ofindependent conduits, comprising in combination a plurality of conduits.valves being operable to restrict the flow of fluids throughsaidconduits, operating means for said valves, connections between saidvalves and said means, and a common control device for a plurality ofsaid valves actuated by the flow of fluids through said conduits tooperate said operating means to maintain the flow of iiuidsthrough saidfconduits within predetermined limits.

3, A devlce for regulating the flow of fluids through a plurality ofindependent conduits, comprising 111 combination a plurality ofcondu1ts,'valves within sald conduitsandbeing operable to restrict theflow offiuidsthrough said conduits, a common operating means forjustable means for changing said limits.

4. A device of the class described comprising in combination avplurality of .flues, -a damper within eaen flue, operating means forsaid dampers, and common control means directly operable by thepressureofthe fluids in said fines to control the operation ofsaid operatingmeans to maintain the fiow of fluids through said fiues within,predeter- I determine thenormal combmed draft through mined limits. v v

5. A device of the class described comprising in combination a pluralityof lines, a

damper within each fine, and common means directly operable by the flow4 of fluids through said fines to simultaneously control the operationof a plurality of said dampers to maintain the flow of fiuids'throughsaid lines within predetermined limits.

6. A device of the class described comprising in combination a pluralityof fines, a damper within each flue, common control means directlyoperable by the combined effect of the pressures in said fines tocontrol the simultaneous operation of said dampers to maintain the flowof fluids through said flues within predeteiunined l1mits,"andadjustable devices to simultaneously predetermine the normal flow offluids through said fines.

7. A device of the class described compris 8. A device of the classdescribed comprisfl ing in combination a plurality of fiues,dampersforsaid fines, operating means for said dampers, draft pipes connectedwith said flues, common control means operated by the ously operate saiddampers, means for adjustv ingthe normal setting of each of said dampers, common. control means under control of the draft in said fines foroperating said opcrating means, and adjustable devices for control meansto vdetermine the normal draft through said flues. a

'10. An automatic damper regulator comprising a plurality of fines, adamper for 1 each flue, operating means to operate sa1d' dampers, commoncontrol means under c'on-,

trol of the draft in said lines for operating said operating means, andadjustable devices v forsaidc'om'mon control means to determine thenormal draft through said fines,

ll. An automatic damper regulator comprising'a plurality of fines, adamper for each fiue,power means tooperate said dampers,

means for adjusting the normal setting of each of said dampers, controlmeans under control of the combineddraftin all of said fines foroperating said operating means, and adjustable devices for saidcontrolmeansto all of said fines.

A device ofthe class described comprising a line, a damper for saidfine, a draft pipe leadin from said flue, a container for liquidandwithan open end of said draft pipe terminating above the liquid.insaid container, a movable cup suspended overtheopen end of'said draftpipe, a contact'member. conof contacts with which said contact memberoperates, a reversible electric motor operatrolled bythe movement ofsaid cup, a pair l leading from said flue, a container for liquid andwith an open end of said draft pipe terminating above the liquid in saidcontainer,

a movable'cup suspended over the open end of said draft pipe and dippinginto said liq uid to form a liquid sealed chamber, a contactmember-controlled bythe movementof said cup, a pair, of contacts withwhich said contact member operates, and means to permit adjustment ofsaid contacts relatively to each other. a a

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature. 7

RAYMOND M. POTTER.

combined efiect of the pressure conditions in said draft pipes tocontrol said operating means to maintain the draft in said flues flue,common operating means to simultane-

